1922.] 



Cumberland Pigs. 



1017 



furnishes a carcass of pork of fine quality, which on being con- 

 verted into bacon is greatly in demand on those markets where 

 quality of bacon and hams is highly esteemed, and command 

 the highest prices current. 



Of its origin very little appears to be known. It possesses 

 several of the points of the pig common in Denmark, which goes 

 by the name of the Land Eace. In form and character it is 

 very similar in two points, the form of the head and its length, 

 as the head of the Cumberland pig is rather short, with an 

 upturned snout, but in the hair it is very dissimilar, this being 

 very fine and limited in quantity. It is generally considered 

 that shortness of head, heaviness of jowl and sparseness of hair 

 are indicative of excess of fat in proportion to the lean meat in 

 most breeds of pigs, but this does not appear to be the case with 

 the Cumberland pig, or the bacon and hams manufactured from 

 it would not have attained and held for so many years a position 

 amongst the highest in the provision trade. It may be possible 

 that the production of a large proportion of lean meat and the 

 firmness of texture of the fat portion of the carcass have become 

 a part of the Cumberland pig's nature owing to the conditions 

 under which it exists, i.e., it has lived for many generations a 

 hardy and open-air life, and has been largely fed on dairy offals, 

 • especially during the fattening stage. Evidence that the quality 

 of the meat furnished by an animal is greatly affected by the 

 life which the animal has led, is furnished by the following 

 extract from the published report of an interview with the meat 

 buyer for two of the principal restaurants in London : — 



'* We serve a fillet of beef that is unrivalled in Europe. It is raised 

 by a French agriculturist from bullocks that are not only fed with 

 exceptional care, but also worked at plough. This exercise, carefully 

 watched and regulated, gives to the flesh an extraordinarily even 

 admixture of fat and lean, and produces a steak like no other. " 



The claim that acquired characteristics, whether from the system 

 of feeding or from the conditions long continued under which the 

 animal has lived, eventually become permanent may be said to 

 receive support from the Cumberland pig in its present state. 



In the introduction to the first volume of the herd book of 

 the Cumberland Pig Breeders' Association extracts are given 

 from books and treatises published in the early part of the last 

 century. These clearly prove that the Cumberland pig of that 

 day possessed some of the peculiar characteristics of the present- 

 day pig, such as the rather large hanging down ear, and the 

 -smooth white skin with occasional blue spots which are not as 



